Tag Archives: Military

Air Force Academy Announces Cheating Incident

The US Air Force Academy has issued a release indicating as many as 78 cadets may have been involved in a cheating scandal. 

Up to 78 Air Force Academy cadets cheated on an online calculus test by getting help during the exam from a website, the academy said Wednesday.

Most of the cadets took responsibility for their actions and have begun a six-month remediation program, a type of academic probation, said Lt. Col. John Bryan, an academy spokesman.

The circumstances seem somewhat unique compared Read more

Atheists Demand Jesus Come Down from Montana Mountain

The aptly named Freedom From Religion Foundation has demanded that the “Big Mountain Jesus” be torn down, because it resides on (leased) US government land.  Interestingly, it has a military connection: It was raised by the local Knights of Columbus in honor of the 10th Mountain Division:

They call him Big Mountain Jesus: a six-foot statue of Christ, draped in a baby blue robe and gazing out over the majestic Flathead Valley from his perch along a ski run at the Whitefish Mountain Resort in Montana.

He has been there for more than 50 years, erected by the local Knights of Columbus chapter in honor of the soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division who told of seeing similar shrines in the mountains of Italy during World War II.

The Knights of Columbus have asked, naturally, to intervene in the case between the FFRF and the Forest Service.  Even the local resort manager saw the historical value of the statue beyond religion:  Read more

Chaplains Serve Faithful, Faithless in War

A Memorial Day article at the Washington Post covers the service of a group of chaplains at Arlington National Cemetery.  The chaplains recall their sacred service and their combat duty, to all members of the military.

Chaplain (LtCol) Keith Croom, the senior Army chaplain at Arlington, has seen the two extremes of that service:

He has been sworn at by dying soldiers and steeped in calamity and sorrow. He ministers to service members of all faiths, and to those of none at all.
 
“We have to understand that people don’t have to agree with any faith. They have a right not to practice, and I need to be OK with that,” he said. “I’ve had a guy say, ‘I don’t believe in your God,’ and he died right in front of me.”

On the other hand, the opposite occurred in Iraq in 2004:  Read more

AWOL, Military Christians Protest NATO Summit

An interesting, if somewhat odd, article at the ChristianPost documents the story of Jacob and Jordon George, two men who grew up in the church and have developed a pacifist view:

George grew up in a Southern Baptist church…but said it was his three tours in Afghanistan that opened him up a new interpretation of Christianity – one that does not misuse or misconstrue the words of Christ and war.

“I think those two things have absolutely nothing to do with each other,” he said…

“Jesus was an advocate for non-violence. He never Read more

Samaritan’s Purse to Support Military Marriages

As noted many times here before, the integrity of marriage is something the US military and some outside organizations attempt to strengthen.  Franklin Graham’s Samaritan Purse is starting Operation Heal Our Patriots to join the fight to defend military marriages, focusing specifically on the marriages of those who return wounded from combat.

The marriage enrichment program, featuring weeklong retreats to a remote, refurbished fishing camp in Alaska, begins next month Read more

Shock, Scandal: Military Hosts Secular Day Camp

Last year military atheist Justin Griffith created a fuss over a military chapel community’s Vacation Bible School — something virtually every military chapel community does, by the way.  He claimed the chapel VBS was a US government-funded “religious summer camp.” 

Naturally, he continued the militant atheist tradition of latching on to Christianity by demanding a “me, too” ability to have such an event. He failed to acknowledge military facilities already host non-religious events of a similar nature:

Approximately 40 Army Reserve children from all over the southeast region ranging from the ages of six to 14 attended Read more

Defending Freedom Around the World, except Religious Freedom

Phil Lawler at Catholic Culture raises an interesting observation about the US wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the culture of freedom in our strongest “ally” in the region, Pakistan:

The US is committed to a foreign policy that defends human rights. Yet in the countries where our troops have been fighting during the past decade, one fundamental human right—the right to religious freedom—has been diminished rather than enhanced, particularly for Christians.

In Iraq the Christian minority is in flight, hounded and Read more

Michael Weinstein, Religious Freedom Critic and Drama Queen

An interview at the Austin American-Statesman, while being largely friendly to Michael Weinstein, makes some interesting observations on his crusade against religious freedom in the US military:

In recent years, the Defense Department has at least tacitly acknowledged that complaints like his may have some validity.

There’s some truth to that observation.  When the DoD has acquiesced to Weinstein — even when it didn’t need to — it gave the impression that Weinstein’s complaint was valid.  Instead of placating him by making the situation go away, as they likely wanted, the DoD has oftentimes emboldened him.  USAFA saw this and eventually took another Read more

1 … 298 299 300 301 302 … 552